Boreal
Remembering Uzza
If Islam Was Explained to Me in a Pub
Two Down, One to Go
Bob:
After the Prophet got his ass kicked at Uhud, what did he do?
Uzza: He went looking for a scapegoat. Muhammad, on returning to Medina with his troops, marched on the fortified Jewish neighborhood of the Banu Nadr, accusing them of being complicit in the defeat of the Muslims at Uhud.
Archie: But there were no Jews at Uhud. And it was Arab women who got the Prophet’s warriors all hot and bothered.
Bob: Would Jewish women have had the same effect?
Archie: For Christ’s sake, Bob!
Uzza: No, it is a valid question. Under normal circumstances, I would say yes. Religion normally does not change what makes us attractive to men. But Islam is different.
Archie: No kidding.
Uzza: It all depended on what you intended to do with your quarry once you captured it. If you are looking for a wife, a woman of the Book will make you try harder, for you are allowed to marry them just like you would a Muslim woman. If all you want is a slave-girl then what she believes or does not believe does not matter[165].
Gerry: You called a human being “it.”
Uzza: To those who would make a female their captive, either as a slave-girl or a wife, that is all she is, something you prey upon. What do you say about calling a spade a spade?
Bob: Can a non-Muslim marry a Muslim girl?
Uzza: No[166]. But neither can a Muslim man marry an unbelieving woman unless she converts[167].
Bob: That’s more than fair when you consider that if she is booty, he can still have his way with her as if she was his wife.
Archie: If the believers’ defeat was not because they were salivating at the thought of screwing Jewish girls, why blame the Jews?
Gerry: Archie, don’t be crude.
Uzza: That is alright, Gerry, I have heard worse. Jews have been used as scapegoats since at least the time of the Romans, usually by people who were after their wealth, and the Banu Nadir were a wealthy tribe. They would not come out to meet him in battle, so Muhammad did what before would have been unthinkable. To impress upon them that they had no future in Medina, alive or dead, he destroyed much of Medina's date palms.
Bob: Why would the Banu Nadir have cared?
Uzza: THEY WERE THEIR DATE PALMS. It was their livelihood that Muhammad destroyed.
Archie: And Allah agreed with that?
Uzza: Yes, to destroy such a valuable crop on an oasis in the middle of a desert ̶ Medina is still referred to as the oasis city ̶ had some Arabs up in arms, prompting Allah to send a revelation saying that He had authorized the destruction of whatever trees Muhammad deemed necessary[168].
Gerry: Why attack the Banu Nadir and not the Banu Qurayzah? They had to represent an equal if not greater threat, or why not attack both?
Uzza: Muhammad, to use a cliché, never bit off more than he could chew. If the Banu Nadir and Banu Qurayzah had acted in concert they could have resisted the believers, if not completely overwhelmed them, especially since not an insignificant portion of the Arab population of Medina would have joined them. But they could not agree among themselves, let alone agree to form an alliance to save their lives.
Archie: Typical.
Gerry: It is typical of human nature to want to believe that it is the other who is doomed and that we will survive and even prosper if we don't get involved. That is seldom the case when faced with the type of threat represented by sociopaths.
Uzza: With their livelihood gone, the Banu Nadir agreed to go into exile. Muhammad allowed them to take with them whatever their camels could carry. That left only the Banu Qurayzah of the three Jewish tribes of Medina that had ensured the survival of Islam. Their fate would be sealed after the next encounter between the Meccans and the Muslims at Medina.
Footnotes
5:5 This day the good things have been made lawful to you; the food of the People of the Book is lawful to you, and your food is lawful to them; and so are the believing women who are chaste, and the chaste women of those who were given the Book before you, provided you give them their dowries and take them in marriage, not in fornication or as mistresses. If any one denies the faith, his work shall be of no avail to him, and in the Hereafter he will rank with the losers.
Revelation 5:5 expanded many-fold the available stock of virgins that a believing man could choose from. And if this still was not enough or you could not afford a believing woman, you could always take wives from among your believing slave-girls.
4:25 Whoever of you cannot afford to marry a free, believing woman, let him choose from whatever your right hands possess (captives of war or slave-girls) of believing girls. Allah knows best your faith; you come one from the other. So marry them with their parents’ leave and give them their dowry honourably, as chaste women, neither committing adultery nor taking lovers…
The pain a former slave-girl can expect if she cheats on her husband with another man must take into account her former status as a slave.
4:25 … If they are legally married and commit adultery, their punishment shall be half that of a free women. Such is the law for those of you who fear committing sin; but to abstain is better for you. Allah is All-Forgiving and Merciful!
Why all the rules about the women and girls a man can marry? It’s a question of lust and Allah’s Mercy.
4:26 Allah wants to explain to you [His laws] and to guide you along the paths of those who preceded you, and to be Merciful to you. Allah is All-Knowing, Wise!
4:27 Allah also wants to be Merciful to you, but those who follow their lust want you to deviate greatly from the right course.
60:10 O believers, if believing women come to you as Emigrants, then test them; Allah knows better their faith. If you find them to be believers, do not send them back to the unbelievers. They are neither lawful to the unbelieving men, nor are those men lawful to them. Give them what they [the unbelieving husbands] had paid in dowry; and you are not at fault if you marry them, provided you pay them their dowries. Do not hold fast to unbelieving women; demand what you have spent and let them demand what they have spent. That is Allah’s Judgement. He judges between you, and Allah is All-Knowing and Wise.
2:221 Do not marry unbelieving women (polytheists) until they believe. A believing slave-girl is certainly better than an unbelieving woman, even if the latter pleases you. And do not give your women (believing women) in marriage to polytheists until they believe. A believing slave is certainly better than a polytheist, even if the latter pleases you. Those (the polytheists) call to the Fire and Allah calls to Paradise and Forgiveness by His Leave; and He makes clear His Revelations to mankind so that they may be mindful.
59:5 Whatever palm trees you cut off or leave standing upon their roots is only by Allah’s Leave, and that He might disgrace the sinners.